I lost the battle, but I will win the war

Warning: Slightly gross pictures ahead

So as many of you know, I ride an ebike around Zhenjiang. It is nice, because there arent many buses that run out by my school, and the ones that do run close early in the evening. When I say ebike, I am really talking about something similar to a mo-ped. There are millions of them over here, only the super rich own and drive cars. 

To ride an ebike in China and actually get from point A to point B, one must be a little gutsy. Otherwise you will forever be waiting for a gap in traffic, or expecting someone to let you in. This is just not the case in China. In my head, its all just a giant game of chicken. "Oh yeah, you'll stop for me" kind of thing. And for three months, this logic suited me just fine, no problems at all. Until yesterday that is....

Someone crashed into me on their ebike. Hard.

 Like BentTheFrameCouldntMovePedals hard. 

Like BumpMyHeadPossibleConcussion hard.

 Like LuckyToHaveAllMyTeeth hard. 

I think you get the picture?

Overall it was a slightly traumatic experience. One of my worst in China to be honest. Not my actual injuries, physical pain doesn't really bother me, unless we're talking nausea then I am a big fat baby . Its the angst and emotional scare that was hard for me. We created quite the crowd when we collided, and the lady refused to get up, even after I tried to help her. Granted, I was operating on auto pilot myself" anything broken? no, okay. pick the bike up. put the things back into the basket. etc." But still, I felt like the lady was just trying to milk the situation since I was a foreigner. However, here was why I freaked:

- they wanted to call the cops (what exactly were THEY going to do? you dont need a license to drive an ebike in China)

- ONE person spoke VERY POOR English, so I was very frustrated that I could not explain the situation thoroughly and honestly, and my liaison was out of touch

- they wanted to take me to the hospital ( so not needed)

- I did not have time for ANY of these things because Kaylee was waiting for me at the train station. I was heading to Shanghai with Kaylee on the next train out so we could go to the airport. Kaylee has only ordered bus tickets, and didnt know how to buy train tickets, and she was depending on me. 

So after I thought through all my options, I made sure she was alright (well... I mean as alright as I was) and then drove away. It was AWKWARD driving away. The man with poor English wanted me to stay for the police, but I said I could only wait for 5 minutes then I had to go. I realized that there was really nothing they could do, so even though it was scary and I felt like a rebel, I just drove away.

I met with Kaylee and the train station, my adrenaline rush going away and hysteria started to kick in. I mean, being in a foreign country where you dont speak the language and possibly needing to speak with police? Pretty scary. She asks if I am alright, and after I said yes she starts snapping away, saying " you are going to want these pictures!" So yeah, that's the story of how I lost a battle in China but I will win the war!

Right after Kaylee made sure I was okay.

I cant remember what Kaylee said but it was funny!

I ripped a few small holes in my shirt from hitting the pavement so hard, and this nasty stain wont come out so I am going to have to chuck it in the garbage.

It burned! Oh how it burned. I was a baby and Kaylee cleaned all my wounds up while we waited for the train.

Fishing in China

So today has been pretty fantastic. Ben's school invited us to go out to "the countryside" (it was like 6 miles from downtown) and go fishing! Now, this being China of course it was raining when we wanted to go outside. Not a problem though, I absolutely love my new pink rain coat!

The fishing poles in China are weird... Its just this super freaking long pole with no handles, and they only use worms as bait. They throw this giant ball of something that looks like dirt, but its supposed to bring all the fishies around. I am very proud to say that I put my own wormy bait on the hook, even though it was gross and all squishy.

                                         

                                        
                                        

                                        

So after fishing we played cards for a bit, then we had lunch. I was not anticipating a special banquet for us, but alas, that was the case. Banquet food is no good.  I like that it is on a lazy susan, but its all super fancy, and very fishy. Literally. Right in front of my seat was an entire fish on a plate, with its gross little yellow eyes glossed over but staring into my soul. But that wasnt even the most interesting part of lunch. It was the pig tongue and duck neck. Honestly, if I didn't know what they were it wouldn't have been that bad. But I kept thinking about what I was eating so I did not finish it. But the important thing is that I ate it! Assessment: duck neck was a little spicy, and a lot of work to get just a little meat hopefully without gnawing on the actual neck bone. The texture of the tongue was weird, but swallow-able. But it just weirded me out too much for what I was eating that I only took a handful of bites. I probably wont ever eat either again, but I had to try! I am not trying to get the guts to gnaw on a chicken foot, but we will see if that happens or if I chicken out (pun not intended).

Our new Chinese friend, Zeo! She speaks excellent English, and taught us to play a really fun game of cards, which we had fun playing for hours. Zeo's mother was looking over my shoulder and helping me, it was great!

Ben's liaison's (from here on out called Yao) daughter. She may not speak English, but she kept me VERY entertained for the car ride. Being in  a car was super weird, and so nice! No one was honking at me specifically, I had my own space and I was right next to a cracked window, with no horrid smelling person next to me.

OH MY. So by some miracle I got to sit in the front of the car on the way home. Well, then Yao comes in and is trying to situate two bags. Well, I offer to hold them in my lap because thats just what you do when you ride shotgun. BAD CHOICE.  The bag starts flopping all around and I freak out just a smidge. THERE IS A LIVE FISH. So I put it on the floor and try not to cringe as the fish flips  all around right next to my feet.  Yao keeps saying "it is just a fish, no problem." Oh there was definitely a problem. Who wants to sit and have a fish tail sit and smack their leg as they try to focus on speaking slowly and answer questions about America? Not I. 

Movie Marathon Time

I am so excited right now! I just got done skyping with the brother Ty, and we have made some excellent plans in regards to this Fall. 

We started talking about the terrible movies we used to watch growing up, and how we still loved them. Then I said that we should watch them again for fun. To which Ty responded that it was a scathingly brilliant idea (my interpretation of his words anyway) but then he got really close to the computer screen and threatened me. Apparently he is under the impression that I fall asleep while I watch movies, when really its only happened two or three (or ten) times. 

In preparation of this Fall, we made a list of the movies that represent our childhood and we want to watch again! (Any other Thomas sibs that want to contribute, feel free)

Movies that define my childhood. (And that I will be watching with Ty):

Sandlot 

Space Jam

Star Wars

Indiana Jones

Terminator 

Ferngully

Power Rangers

Godzilla

Lost in Space

Thumbelina (Ty thinks he's getting out this one, but not a chance. If I have to sit through Lost in Space, you are totally watching Thumbelina) 

Beethoven

Swan Princess

Rescuers

Rats of Nimh

Dances with Wolves

The old James Bond

Its a Mad Mad World

Mighty Ducks

Maverick

X Men animated series

Italian Job

Independence Day

Dennis the Menance

Jurassic Park

Patriot

Gladiator

It may take us all semester to watch them all, but it is happening.

The iconic twinners picture

The picture that makes all girls go "Aaaaah, he's such a good brother!" (I mean he totally is, but its funny to hear girls squeal about it)

Thanksgiving 2011

MAJOR throwback to our piano playing days... Now I am proud to say Ty is taller than me.

Jingshan Park

This last week was holiday, so Kaylee came to see me again, and we had a lot of fun! I took her to Jingshan Park, but we did not go inside because the pagoda was closed for the day. We decided to go another day when it wasnt so crazy because of the holiday.

We still got a great view of the pagoda!

Then we met up with Ben and Garrin and randomly found this beach. (Or atleast China's version of a beach). It was fantastic! 

Just standing in the water cooled us off a lot, which was wonderful because it was an extra hot and humid day.

We needed a break, we walked over 5 miles! Then we talked to a few Chinese people, we met a family with 3 children! (Basically unheard of over here)

Sweet delicious pineapple

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The Road Less Traveled

One day I was exploring with Kaylee, and we decided to go off the beaten path, we experienced the road less traveled in China.

It rains in China all.the.time. Ere go, lots of mud.

This awesome lady attempted to give us directions. Lots of gesturing and grunting, then we got it all sorted out.

Chinese cemetary

Anywhere there is a small patch of dirt, you can expect someone to be growing vegetables. 

International Music Festival

So I have decided one of my favorite things about China is the fact that I can easily have freshly cut pineapple for breakfast. Its pretty rad.

This last week was the Chinese "May Day" holiday. I think its basically the same as Memorial Weekend in the States. Except they do holidays weird here. At least for the schools. My students had ThursFriSat off, but had to come back to school for Sunday to try and get caught up. Why not just build in the extra day to the end of the semester? I have no idea. Just another example of my ignorance for Chinese culture.

                                   

Seriously?!  The things people wear over here. Even though this hat is ridiculous, this girl was adorable. I rudely photobombed her selfie, and then when she noticed she got very excited and then we took a real picture together.

So after the show we waited around looking all pathetic and asked if we could meet the band. So worth it. I was expecting them to be jerks, but they were really nice and down to earth. The drummer was really fun to talk to, he was just chilling in the background so we talked for awhileOne of them offered us beer, and we declined. Then the lead singer said "do any of you drink?" To which Ben promptly replies "well we're Mormons!" Then we chatted about China Horizons for a bit, and talked about Mormons and then the singer said "well sh#@ I would hire a Mormon." That was a pretty cool feeling. 

The bass guitarist was also really cool. He just kept talking about how cool we were for traveling so young. "It took me 42 years to get my butt to China, but you are doing it now while you are young! Just think about the cool pictures you are going to have up in your house one day, just chilling on the great wall." It just confirmed my decision again (for the millionth time) that I am so glad that I decided to live abroad for a semester. And after living in China, I feel like I can do anything.

We decide to end the evening truly American- we hit up McDonalds. But of course it cannot be a perfect night all around. We get trapped inside Wanda Plaza because it is the end of the night and they locked most of the doors. When we finally figure out how to get out of the HUGE mall, it starts raining. Then Sierra cannot find a bike to rent from the city so we somehow fit all three of us on this bike. In the rain. And by some miracle I was able to balance the bike, not hit anyone else, and not run us into the pole, which I cannot say the same for a very drunk man who now has an appointment with his dentist. (Or maybe not... I mean this is China.)

Like manna raining from the heavens, we were so happy to see this!

So obviously China has some super awesome touristy spots. You have The Bund, Nanjing Massacre Museum, Summer Palace, and Purple Mountain just to name a few. But every foreigner goes to see those. I loved today because it was something that you would only know or hear about because you actually lived here. We were the only foreigners on the whole island (where the festival was) and we got a good glimpse of what a concert in China felt like. Super weird, I mean these people l
As weird and different that it was from concerts in America, I loved every minute of it. Well, every minute minus the 2,5 minutes when I broke down and had to use a public squattie. In the dark. On a hot sweaty summer night.